An Ethnography of Urban Exploration : Unpacking Heterotopic Social Space (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

This book analyses a unique leisure world that has been built around a newly emerging phenomenon known as urban exploration; the art of exploring human-made environments which are generally abandoned or hidden from sight of the public eye. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, Bingham provides a detailed and critical investigation of urban exploration as a form of leisure that is about the coming together of drifting performers who, in their celebration of ‘rebellion’ and ‘deviance’, are determined to find a sense of meaning and belonging. The research considers the influence of consumer capitalism on urban explorers, and the wider social, economic and political context that shapes ideas of belonging and identity in the twenty-first century. By doing this, the book analyses urban exploration as an activity that has emerged in a time when human ideas about culture, individuality and community have transformed, and ‘solid’ modernity is gradually disintegrating around us. This multi and interdisciplinary work will appeal to people with an interest in ‘abnormal’ or ‘deviant’ leisure, as well as academics from sociology, anthropology, social geography, leisure studies, cultural studies, sport and recreation and tourism. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 In Between the Everyday and the Imaginary (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 3-17 Some Reflections on the Existing Literature (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 19-51 Constructing a Critical Lens (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 53-74 Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Seeking Spaces of Compensation in Modernity’s Dark Side (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 77-108 Finding a Way in the Garden of Forked Paths: The Ontological Hybrids Extraordinaire (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 109-126 Front Matter ....Pages 127-127 The Cognitive Spacing of WildBoyz: On Thinking Skholērly (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 129-151 Aesthetic Social Spacing: Altogether Now with the Khôrasters (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 153-169 Being with and Being for: Moral Social Spacing in Action (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 171-191 Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Practised Life Strategies of WildBoyz (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 195-255 Front Matter ....Pages 5-5 No End in Sight (Kevin P. Bingham)....Pages 259-273 Back Matter ....Pages 275-280